Quick Tech Updates

Have you ever had to fill out a PDF form and your only real choices were to print it out and hand-write the form or use a typewriter.  (Does anybody still have a typewriter?)  Janetta sent me a link to a handy website that will allow you to fill out a pdf form online, download it, and save, print or email it.  The link is simply:
https://www.fillanypdf.com/

I played with it a bit and it works great.  The only stipulation is that it can't be a form with several pages.  I do not know the limit but I had good success with a two page form.  There is even a free-hand pencil tool if you want to try your hand at a signature.

This one is for you Google addicts out there. I love google. It is clearly rewriting the way we do things on a daily basis. Their gmail and google docs are very popular and their search engine is widely used. And don't even get me started on some of the neat concepts and ideas in google labs. But did you know that if you are have a gmail account / google account, then google tracks your information such as search history? I read an article the other day about a new feature in Google called google dashboard. Sure enough, I can go back and look at my search history - when logged into gmail- for the past 2 and 1/2 years! I guess it is a useful feature if I wanted to look back at something I had searched for, but I am not sure why I couldn't just search again. I guess it is useful if you are worried that someone is using your computer to look up inappropriate subjects. But I couldn't help feeling just a bit "invaded" when I learned that they were tracking my history. Something about seeing exactly what I was reading in April, 2007 makes me paranoid.

I recently attended a mini-conference on some of the seldom used "neat" features of google. Did you know google would do these things?

• To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type "weather" followed by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country.
• To see current market data for a given company or fund, type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance.
• To see the time in many cities around the world, type in "time" and the name of the city.
• To see scores and schedules for sports teams type the team name or league name into the search box. This is enabled for many leagues including the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball.
• To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box.

To learn more about some of the neat features built into google (such as restaurant and movie find, populations, measurement conversions, etc. - click on the link.

Cloud-computing is a buzzword that you hear quite a bit these days. It is an expression to describe doing business on the internet. That can be anything from storing data and pics online to using online websites to create documents and files. Basically, it represents a shift in our thinking - as well as trusting - that we can do the same things online that we have always done on our local computer.

Here is an example: Google Docs vs Microsoft Office

For years, we have created docs and spreadsheets in Office and emailed them to ourselves or drug them to school on a flash drive. What if you could create that same document on a program that looks nearly like office but when you save it, it is accessible from any internet location? Sound like an advantage? What if you could take an already created office document, open it / modify it in the clouds, then make it accessible anywhere? That is - in a nutshell - what google docs does. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Not only can you edit the docs, you can share them with co-workers and they can edit them as well. You can create calendars to share, powerpoint presentations, spreadsheets, all kinds of things. With google docs you are really only limited by your imagination.

If Google's data is to be believed, there are 1.75 million businesses that are opting for cloud computing over Office products. Their claim is that 3,000 new businesses sign up for google docs accounts every day! So we are witnessing a true paradigm shift in our handling of applications. Are you using google docs yet? Maybe it is time.

Wow what a busy stretch. The first few weeks back are always a busy time for the tech department. This year seems worse with the addition of all the new multimedia technology and opening a new school. It has been a whirlwind beginning. Please continue to use the workorder system to let us know when you are needing help. We currently have 150 workorders (more than I can ever remember) and we are trying to work through the list. Unfortunately, things happen every day to pull us away from that list. We are prioritizing and trying to work through a few per day. By using the system, rather than calling or emailing us, we have a record and can prioritize and take care of the things that are most important to everyone. Thanks.

I have created some new mailing list options and thought this would be a good time to remind you about the available lists and how you can join them.

Of course there is a staffmail list that covers every employee.  Then there are building lists for each building and all of its staff: hsstaff, msstaff, isstaff, wnstaff, wsstaff, wcstaff, westaff, and the new ohstaff.  There is a list for coaches (called coaches) and another for special services staff called ssstaff.

In addition, I have created the following new lists:

• kdgstaff (kindergarten teachers / paras)
• 1ststaff (first grade teachers / paras)
• 2ndstaff (second grade teachers / paras)
• 3rdstaff (third grade teachers / paras)
• 4thstaff (fourth grade teachers / paras)
• ncstaff (non-certified staff)

To join a mailing list, you need to send an email from your school account.  It needs to be addressed to the name of the mailing list -join@willard.k12.mo.us (no spaces).  For example if you are a kindergarten teacher and you want to join that new list, address your email to kdgstaff-join@willard.k12.mo.us

Leave the subject line empty and in the body of the text simply put subscribe your email address.  In my case it would look like this:

subscribe bandrus@willard.k12.mo.us

The email server will generate a request and send it to the list moderator (me) and I will approve the request.  Just email or call if you have any problems. 

With four or five projects on the table, we have a busy summer planned!

1. Our biggest priority will be preparing for the opening of a new school. We will be pulling all of the cable and terminating all of the jacks beginning next week. Getting a server ready, internet access, some new stations, phone system in place, etc - is a big task. Coordinating the relocating of 20-30 teachers will be a big part of this task.  There is a new library system to setup, a new cafeteria computer to setup, several new offices to setup, as well as a lab and a couple of 4tec classrooms.
2. Another big task we have is coordinating the process of installing 120 projectors and about 45 smartboards around the district. This will be ongoing throughout the summer and hope to have everything completed when teachers return in August. 
3. The conversion over to a new student record system has been ongoing since January, but the main part of it is yet to come. We will be rolling the students / database over into the new system after summer school.
4. We have about 75 teacher stations to replace. They will be ordered and ready, but this project will likely get pushed back until teachers return in the fall.
5. We are moving the new stations to Office 07 and would like to begin converting existing stations to 07. This process will probably take a few weeks / months to get everyone switched over. 

It promises to be a hectic but rewarding summer.

As you may have heard, one of the tech projects for the coming school year will be to place a mounted / connected projector in every self-contained or core classroom throughout the district. We hope to begin this year-long project around mid-June.  I am very excited about the addition of this technology.

But just adding the technology is not enough. The district will be hiring additional technology trainers to work with teachers on incorporating technology into their everyday lessons. The goal is that over a 2-3 year period of using the technology and working with teacher trainers, 100% of our district staff will be proficient at incorporating technology into their lesson plans. If you are interested in applying for one of the three tech teaching assistant positions, please go to our online application center at: http://www.applitrack.com/wico/onlineapp/

If you have any questions about the postions don't hesitate to ask Janetta or myself.

I have posted a link on the district webpage for our new Twitter account.  This is a work in progress.  I decided it was something we needed to jump in and try.  I am willing to put a bit of time into it, but I do not expect to be able to tweet everyday.  I will just try to hit the highlights of district happenings.  We will see where it takes us.  If it becomes too time consuming I will have to make some adjustments.

I came across an article in pcmagazine about the 25 Golden Rules of Email. Some of them are pretty good. I picked out and paraphrased a dozen of my pet peaves. If you would like to read the entire article you can click on this link

1. Beware of hoaxes - Whenever the opportunity strikes to pass on some juicy tale of woe that has hit your inbox, first visit Snopes.com.

2. Don't perpetuate pointlessness - Your friends are too polite to ask you to stop, and everyone else is far too busy dealing with important messages to wade through nonsense emails.

3. Don't hand out your email address like candy - Give it only to friends and coworkers. Eventually all addresses get spammed, but keeping it close will delay this for a while.

4. BCC is your friend - use it to send a copy of an email to someone you want to stay informed yet the recipient does not know it.

5. Subject lines matter - people receive hundreds of messages a day and the subject line helps get yours read.

6. One topic per message - tracking multiple topics in a message - and responding to them - is difficult.

7. Avoid huge attachments - First and best option: Share a link rather than the actual file.

8. Attach what you promised - everyone forgets. Just try to minimize that mistake.

9.Trim excess in replies - trim away the extra appended messages at the bottom of the email replies.

10. No all caps - typing in all caps is annoying and the internet equivalent of Yelling.

11. Know your audience - you don't talk to your parents the same way you talk to your friends.

12. Create a useful signature file - at the very least it should contain your name, title, and contact information.